sugden a21a permanently on

I have recently purchased a lovely Sugden A21A , and replaced my arcam alpha 9. i used to leave my arcams on all the time, is this possible with the sugden without risk? it was secondhand so no manual was supplied and i cant find any guidance when i googled the subject.

help appreciated.
P

 

With this amp being Class A, if you left it on all the time you would see a big increase in your electricity bill. Personally, I'd switch it on an hour before you start some listening.

 

thanks for that,
it was prompted by reading on russ andrews site that switching amps on and off causes "massive stress" on internal components, so i panicked and thought id ask the collective experts.

 

Hi,

When I replaced mine with the A21se the chap forgot to take the Instruction book and although I e-mailed him there was no response so if you drop me your address I'll pop it into the post for you. Mind you to be honest it's really not too comprehensive, but you're welcome to it if you wish.

Oh yes, as Nigel says do switch it off, certainly overnight, as I'm sure you're aware it runs extremely hot, also I find that 20 minutes is plenty of time for it to warm up to speed.

Cheers, Dave

 

How nice, Thank You very much, I will PM with my address,

 

No problem...I'll post it tomorrow.

Cheers for now

 

It's swings and roundabouts really....

Switching on and off often will upset electrolytic capacitors (they don't like this) and lead to faster dry joints (thermal expansion/contraction cycles).

Leaving it switched on the whole time will upset electrolytic capacitors (they don't like being too hot... most amps are ok with this, but a Class A amp could well significantly shorten capacitor life. As you may notice, you can't win with electrolytic caps), may cause wear/breakdown of transistors after a few years, and will seriously dent your finances for a class A amp.

Electrolytic Capacitors (again!) run in much more quickly at elevated temperatures, and as you're aware the unit will get to operating temperature pretty quickly, so for a new one you might want to keep it on for a week, and then the hour's warm-up is pretty sound advice.

 

on and off it is then, Thanks eveyone, useful advice ....here's to happy capacitors.

 

peez,
Just don't turn off your CDP if you Don't listen every day.If you leave it off for more than 24HRS it will take a couple of days to sound right again.This has been my experience.Does anyone know why?I know its NOT my imagination.
rollo

 

Cheers Rollo,
The CDP is always on, it's a Micromega and has its standby with display off function. I think capacitors get unsettled when things are turned on and off etc, but the other chaps are the experts,

 

hello all, i also have an old arcam amplifier (delta 90.2) which i think is from 1989. Since I acquired it 10yrs ago and I only switch it off if we go on holiday or move house. And, although long overdue a service it still sounds great. I have the original manual which states it needs 1/2hours warm-up. Should I be turning it off say overnight?

 

Hi Peez!

Welcome to zg.

If you're new(ish?) to hifi, I'd just like to say that the Russ Andrews magazine contains a lot of contentious information.

I'm not going to rubbish the company, man, magazine - or get into any sort of trolling post - but I would like to say that much of the content of the magazine should be scrutinised and taken against personal experience, instead of taken 'as read'.


NB
On this particular point I would concur that leaving your amplifier off if class A is a good idea.
On a green standpoint, it's my own opinion that leaving electrical items on when not in use is a waste of natural resources. Thats a decision for each of us to make though on our own.

 

Wolf-

The Delta is, as far as I am aware, a Class AB amplifier. Thus it doesn't dissipate much power at idle and should not get enormously warm. This will be fine left on all the time (but for the ecological standpoint bottleneck alludes to). It's rather different to the Class A sugden.

 

Thanks for the welcome, it's nice to be here.